Graeme made some more updates to his .plan so I'm carrying this story up to the top of the page again.As I mentioned earlier this morning people are trying like heck to hack the Quake3 CDKey stuff. Graeme made a .plan update a little while ago on the topic giving out a few details on the key saying the chances of guessing a key are 'billions and billions to one' so there you go.

Okay. Hacker attempts with invalid keys are outnumbering real keys by a factor of 2:1 or so. Obviously this is somewhat validating the use of CD keys.
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The actual algorithm is a 64 bit DES key encryption method open to a very small window. The chances of coming up with a real valid key is in the range of billions and billions to one. A random pass through the available keys shows no sign of repeating sequences, it looks like good old chaos (in fact, statisical math proves this).

6:40 update: Graeme added this important bit of information which should make a few of you go "ooooooh" or something:

Secondly, CD keys are "leased", so if you log on through a dialup, play, then disconnect your modem and log right back on, your CD key will have to timeout on your previous IP before you can play again. This timeout period is currently set at 5 minutes.

Remember those awesome Quake Done Quick demos that everyone was just amazed with? Well check out Quake Redone Quicker! You'll be blown away, it's worth re-installing Quake1 if you deleted it (sinner!)

Hey check it out, a Doom conversion for Quake. This release of the mod is targetted at deathmatch, but plans for single player stuff are still going to happen.

Merc pointed me to The Onion for a reference on a "Quake" claiming 500...hours. Anyone else find it interesting that the word "Quake" has never had any real relevance to the games? (Other than sounding cool)

SAN FRANCISCO--Rescue workers are still searching frantically for any signs of unwasted time in the wreckage of high-school student Jeremy Fanshaw's life, following a devastating Quake game that claimed an estimated 500 hours of his time. "Ordinarily, a game of this magnitude would destroy 40 to 50 hours," Red Cross worker Linda Wallis-Hupford said. "But, tragically, Jeremy went back to play the game from the beginning, then he started playing at harder and harder skill levels, and, eventually, he downloaded software that let him create his own levels and skins." As rescue efforts continue, experts are warning of a possible Quake II disaster that could last even longer, with more stunning graphics.

Wacky mod of the day award goes to FishEye Quake which will pretty much disorient you but looks pretty cool. Then of course if that isnt enough for you check out the Clan Gargoyle page which features an OpenGL proxy specifically intended to mess with your head.

Cool toy of the day for you guys to play with today is the Quake Direct3D viewer. It is intended for use with Quake1 and wont work with 2 or 3. Thanks Rick